Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T17:22:05.777Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multinational Enterprise and Government Controls on Outward Foreign Direct Investment in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1960s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Neil Rollings
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The 1960s have been seen as critical in the development of multinational enterprise by social scientists. Business historians have provided a context to these developments but are only now beginning to consider the 1960s in the light of access to archival material. This article analyses the nature and extent of the tension between multinational enterprise and U.S. and U.K. national governments in the 1960s caused by the tightening of controls on FDI introduced to resolve balance of payments problems. A comparative approach is adopted to illustrate that these tensions were not restricted to the U.S. The tension revolved around different conceptions of business investment decision-making and of the contribution of multinationals to the national economy. It is also suggested that the impact of these measures was at the micro-level and this highlights the value of business history approaches.

Type
Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 398 - 434
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2011. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography of Works Cited

Books

Anderson, James E., and Hazleton, Jared E.. Managing Macroeconomic Policy: The Johnson Presidency. Austen: University of Texas Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Bailey, D., Harte, G., and Sugden, R.. Transnational and Governments: Recent Policies in Japan, France, Germany, the United States and Britain. London: Routledge, 1994.Google Scholar
Bamberg, J.H. British Petroleum and Global Oil, 1950–1975: The Challenge of Nationalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Battilossi, Stefano, and Cassis, Youssef, eds. European Banks and the American Challenge: Competition and Cooperation in International Banking Under Bretton Woods. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Behrman, Jack. National Interests and the Multinational Enterprise: Tensions among the North Atlantic Countries. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1970.Google Scholar
Bergsten, Fred, Horst, Thomas, and Moran, Theodore. American Multinationals and American Interests. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1978.Google Scholar
Brewer, Thomas, and Young, Stephen. The Multilateral Investment System and Multinational Enterprises. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Cairncross, Alec. Control of Long-term International Capital Movements: A Staff Paper. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1973.Google Scholar
Central Office of Information (COI). Britain’s International Investment Position. London: HMSO, 1971.Google Scholar
Conybeare, John A.C. United States Foreign Economic Policy and the International Capital Markets: The Case of Capital Export Countries, 1963–1974. New York: Garland, 1988.Google Scholar
Dunning, John. Studies in International Investment. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1970.Google Scholar
Hawley, James P. Dollars and Borders: U.S. Government Attempts to Restrict Capital Flows, 1960–1980. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1987.Google Scholar
Hood, Neil, and Young, Stephen. The Economics of Multinational Enterprise. London: Longman, 1979.Google Scholar
Howarth, Stephen, Jonker, Joost, Sluyterman, Keetie, and vanZenden, Jan Luiten. The History of Royal Dutch Shell. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Hufbauer, G.C., and Adler, F.M.. Overseas Manufacturing Investment and the Balance of Payments. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Treasury Department, 1968.Google Scholar
Industrial Policy Group. The Case for Overseas Direct Investment. London, 1970.Google Scholar
Jones, Geoffrey. Multinationals and Global Capitalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Jones, Geoffrey. Renewing Unilever: Transformation and Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Kaldor, Nicholas. Causes of the Slow Rate of Economic Growth of the U.K. London: Cambridge University Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Kane, Daniel R. The Eurodollar Market and the Years of Crisis. London: Croom Helm, 1983.Google Scholar
Kindleberger, Charles. American Business Abroad: Six Lectures on Direct Investment. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1969.Google Scholar
Lary, Hal. Problems of the United States as World Trader and Banker. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1963.Google Scholar
Polk, Judd, Irene Meister, and Lawrence Veit. U.S. Production Abroad and the Balance of Payments. New York: National Industrial Conference Board, 1966.Google Scholar
Reddaway, W.B. Effects of UK Direct Investment Overseas: An Interim Report. London: Cambridge University Press, 1967.Google Scholar
Reddaway, W.B. Effects of UK Direct Investment Overseas: Final Report. London: Cambridge University Press, 1968.Google Scholar
Safarian, A.E. Multinational Enterprise and Public Policy: A Study of the Industrial Countries. Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar, 1993.Google Scholar
Shepherd, David, Silbertson, Aubrey, and Strange, Roger. British Manufacturing Investment Overseas. London: Methuen, 1985.Google Scholar
Shone, Robert. Investment and Economic Growth. London: Athlone Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Shonfield, Andrew. British Economic Policy since the War. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1958.Google Scholar
Stobaugh, Robert. Nine Investments Abroad and Their Impact at Home: Case Studies on Multinational Enterprises and the U.S. Economy. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Stopford, John, and Dunning, John. Multinationals: Company Performance and Global Trends. London: Macmillan, 1983.Google Scholar
Strange, Susan. The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Thirlwall, Anthony. Nicholas Kaldor. Brighton: Wheatsheaf, 1987.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, Jim. The Politics of Decline: Understanding Postwar Britain. Harlow: Longman, 2000.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, Jim. The Labour Governments 1964–70 Volume 3: Economic Policy. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce. The Financial Structure of the Foreign Affiliates of U.S. Direct Investors. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1974.Google Scholar
Vernon, Raymond. U.S.Controls on Foreign Direct Investments—A Reevaluation. New York: Financial Executives Research Foundation, 1969.Google Scholar
Vernon, Raymond. Sovereignty at Bay. New York: Basic Books, 1971.Google Scholar
Vernon, Raymond. Storm over the Multinationals: The Real Issues. London: Macmillan, 1977.Google Scholar
Vernon, Raymond. In the Hurricane’s Eye: The Troubled Prospects of Multinational Enterprises. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Wells, Sidney. British Export Performance: A Comparative Study. London: Cambridge University Press, 1964.Google Scholar
Wilkins, Mira. The Maturing of Multinational Enterprise: American Business Abroad from 1914 to 1970. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974.Google Scholar

Articles and Essays

Adler, F. Michael, and Hufbauer, G.C.. “Foreign Investment Controls: Objective-Removal”. Columbia Journal of World Business 4, no. 3 (1969): 29–37.Google Scholar
Balogh, Thomas, and Streeten, Paul. “Domestic Versus Foreign Investment”. Bulletin of the Oxford University Institute of Economics and Statistics 22, no. 3 (1960): 213–24.Google Scholar
Bank of England. “The U.K. Exchange Control: A Short History”. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin 7, no. 3 (1967): 245–60.Google Scholar
Bank of England. “The Investment Currency Market”. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin 16 (1976): 314–22.Google Scholar
Behrman, Jack. “Assessing the Foreign Investment Controls”. Law and Contemporary Problems 34, no. 1 (1969): 84–94.Google Scholar
Buckley, Peter. “Business History and International Business”. Business History 51, no. 3 (2009): 307–33.Google Scholar
Dunning, John. “The Future of the Multinational Enterprise”. In Changing Patterns in Foreign Trade and Payments, edited by Balassa, Bela, 201–21. New York: W.W. Norton, 1978.Google Scholar
Ellicott, John. “United States Controls on Foreign Direct Investment: The 1969 Program”. Law and Contemporary Problems 34, no. 1 (1969): 47–63.Google Scholar
Froot, Kenneth. “Introduction”. In Foreign Direct Investment, edited by Froot, Kenneth, 1–11. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Herring, Richard, and Willett, Thomas. “The Capital Controls Program and U.S. Investment Activity Abroad”. Southern Economic Journal 39 (1972): 58–71.Google Scholar
Holbik, Karl. “United States Experience with Direct Investment Controls”. Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv 108 (1972): 491–513.Google Scholar
Jones, Geoffrey. “Multinationals”. In Business History around the World, edited by Amatori, Franco and Jones, Geoffrey, 353–71. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Jones, Geoffrey. “Multinationals from the 1930s to the 1980s”. In Leviathans: Multinationals and the New Global History, edited by Chandler, Alfred and Mazlich, Bruce, 81–103. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Jones, Geoffrey. “The End of Nationality? Global Firms and ‘Borderless Worlds’”. Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte 51, no. 2 (2006): 149–65.Google Scholar
Jones, Geoffrey. “Globalization”. In The Oxford Handbook of Business History, edited by Jones, Geoffrey and Zeitlin, Jonathan, 141–68. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Special issue of Journal of International Management 6 (2000).Google Scholar
Kaldor, Nicholas. “Conflicts in National Economic Objectives”. In Conflicts in Policy Objectives, edited by Kaldor, Nicholas, 1–19. Oxford: Blackwell, 1971.Google Scholar
Keynes, John Maynard. “Foreign Investment and National Advantage”. The Nation and Atheneum 35 (1924): 584–7.Google Scholar
Kobrin, Stephen. ȁSovereignty@Bay: Globalization, Multinational Enterprise, and the International Political System”. In The Oxford Handbook of International Business, 2nd ed., edited by Rugman, Alan, 183–204. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.Google Scholar
Lindert, Peter. “The Payments Impact of Foreign Investment Controls”. Journal of Finance 26 (1971): 1083–99.Google Scholar
Lipsey, Robert E. “Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.: Changes Over Three Decades”. In Foreign Direct Investment, edited by Froot, Kenneth, 113–70. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Major, Aaron. “The Fall and Rise of Financial Capital”. Review of Political Economy 15, no. 5 (2008): 800–25.Google Scholar
Mikesell, Raymond. “Some Conclusions for Public Policy in the Light of Current Developments”. In U.S. Private and Government Investment Abroad, edited by Raymond Mikesell, 541–88. Eugene: University of Oregon Press, 1962.Google Scholar
Nachum, Lilach, Jones, Geoffrey, and Dunning, John. “The International Competitiveness of the UK: Is It Eroding or Changing Form?”. In Multinational Firms: The Global-Local Dilemma, edited by Dunning, John and Muchielli, Jean-Louis, 33–57. London: Routledge, 2002.Google Scholar
Robertson, David. “The Multinational Enterprise: Trade Flows and Trade Policy”. In The Multinational Enterprise, edited by Dunning, John, 169–203. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1971.Google Scholar
Rugman, Alan, and Verbeke, Alain. “Multinational Enterprises and Public Policy”. In The Oxford Handbook of International Business, edited by Rugman, Alan and Brewer, Thomas, 818–42. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Scaperlanda, Anthony. “Direct Investment Controls and International Equilibrium: The U.S. Experience”. Eastern Economic Journal, 18, no. 2 (1992): 157–70.Google Scholar
Schenk, Catherine R. “Exchange Controls and Multinational Enterprise: The Sterling-Dollar Oil Controversy in the 1950s”. Business History 38, no. 4 (1996): 21–40.Google Scholar
Schenk, Catherine R. “The Origins of the Eurodollar Market in London: 1955–1963”. Explorations in Economic History 35, no. 2 (1998): 221–38.Google Scholar
Stanley, Marjorie T., and Stanley, John D.. “The Impact of U.S. Regulation of Foreign Investment”. California Management Review 15, no. 2 (1972): 56–64.Google Scholar
Stobaugh, Robert, Torre, Jose de la, and Ronstadt, Robert. “U.S. Multinational Enterprises and the U.S. Economy”. In The Multinational Corporation: Studies on U.S. Foreign Investment Volume 1, edited by U.S. Department of Commerce, 1–37. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce. “Policy Aspects of Foreign Investment by U.S. Multinational Corporations”. In The Multinational Corporation: Studies on U.S. Foreign Investment Volume 1, edited by U.S. Department of Commerce, 1–86. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972.Google Scholar
Vernon, Raymond. “Multinational Business and National Economic Goals”. International Organization 25, no. 3 (1971): 693–705.Google Scholar
Vernon, Raymond. “Problems and Policies Regarding Multinational Enterprises”. In Changing Patterns in Foreign Trade and Payments, edited by Balassa, Bela, 150–74. New York: W.W. Norton, 1978.Google Scholar
Vernon, Raymond. “Sovereignty at Bay Ten Years After”. International Organization 35, no. 3 (1981): 517–29.Google Scholar
Vernon, Raymond. “Where Are Multinationals Headed?”. In Foreign Direct Investment, edited by Froot, Kenneth, 57–791. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Wilkins, Mira. “Multinational Enterprise to 1930”. In Leviathans: Multinational Corporations and the New Global History, edited by Chandler, Alfred and Mazlich, Bruce, 45–79. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Willey, H. David. “Direct Investment Controls and the Balance of Payments”. In The International Corporation: A Symposium, edited by Kindleberger, Charles, 95–119. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Woolley, P.K. “Britain’s Investment Currency Premium”. Lloyds Bank Review 113 (1974): 33–46.Google Scholar
Woolley, P.K. “The U.K. Investment Currency Market”. IMF Staff Papers 24, no. 3 (1977): 756–86.Google Scholar

Newspapers

The Economist.Google Scholar
New York Times.Google Scholar

Online Source

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) 1964–1968. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/johnsonlb/index.htm. Google Scholar
U.K. Office for National Statistics Balance of Payments, Financial Account, UK Investment Abroad. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/tsdataset.asp?vlnk=1549&More=Y. Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. International Transactions Accounts Data. http://www.bea.gov/international/bp_web/simple.cfm?anon=687239&table_id=1&area_id=3. Google Scholar

Archival Sources

The National Archives (TNA), Kew, London, UK.Google Scholar
The Modern Records Centre (MRC), Warwick, UK.Google Scholar